Barnton Monday 6 August 2018

First job this morning was to visit the CRT office at Anderton and book the next available passage down to the Weaver at 1045 am. then it was into the visitor centre for a cooked Breakfast which is excellent value. We entered the lift on time, its the first time I have been in with two other boats, the fit was so tight that the Sea Otter had to remove his Jack Staff.

The are having problems with a family of swans and cygnets as they go into the basin and given half a chance the aqueduct to the caissons. The lift operator was having quite a time of it herding them out with a cane.
Once we were down the lift we turned left up through Northwich, stopping to look at the lock and drydock, For some reason CRT have now marked the off side wall below Town bridge as a bridge waiting area for quite a way, there is nowhere to wait for Hayhurst bridge and only a short waiting area above Town bridge coming down, I also suspect that Town bridge is still inoperative, then it was down to Dutton, Dredging operations have moved down below Winnington Swing Bridge.
At Dutton lock we winded to return to the lift, as we did the Star Tug was about to leave the lock and soon overtook us as it headedup to the dredging operation. As we passed the dredger he had just lifted what looked like a barn door.

Back at the lift I went to the office and book our passage up back to the canal, again only a hour to wait so just time for lunch. This time there was just the two of us going up. At the top of the lift the cygnets had managed to get them selves trapped in the other aqueduct, still it would only be an hour before the trip boat came up and they would be released. We spent a bit of time at the visitor centre before heading off through Barnton Tunnel where we moored for the night and had a BBQ.

Today's Journey 10 Miles in 5¼ hours